The 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome is the most frequent microdeletion syndrome in humans, yet its genetic basis is complex and is still not fully understood. Most patients harbor a 3-Mb deletion (typically deleted region [TDR]), but occasionally patients with atypical deletions, some of which do not overlap with each other and/or the TDR, have been described. Microduplication of the TDR leads to a phenotype similar, albeit not identical, to the deletion of this region. Here we present a child initially suspected of having 22q11 microdeletion syndrome, who in addition developed a fatal malignant rhabdoid tumor of the kidney. Detailed cytogenetic and molecular analyses revealed a complex de novo rearrangement of band q11 of the paternally derived chromosome 22. This aberration exhibited two novel features. First, a microduplication of the 22q11 TDR was associated with an atypical 22q11 microdeletion immediately telomeric of the duplicated region. Second, this deletion was considerably larger than previously reported atypical 22q11 deletions, spanning 2.8 Mb and extending beyond the SMARCB1/SNF5/INI1 tumor suppressor gene, whose second allele harbored a somatic frameshift-causing sequence alteration in the patient's tumor. Two nonallelic homologous recombination events between low-copy repeats (LCRs) could explain the emergence of this novel and complex mutation associated with the phenotype of 22q11 microdeletion syndrome.
(c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.